Chandigarh Airport to lift Global passengers in four months

February 26, 2015 11:09 AM

CHANDIGARH: As the countdown has begun for flights from the upcoming Chandigarh international airport, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) was scouting for international airlines to connect the City Beautiful with the rest of the world. According to officials, 90% work was completed and the swanky airport was expected to become operational in four months.

The AAI has found Middle East and South East as favourite and possible destinations for international flights after deliberations and an in-depth study.

The AAI has pointed out 42 such destinations that could fetch a huge number of passengers from Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), Chandigarh and Uttarakhand as Chandigarh was a transit point for these states.

While Indigo and SpiceJet has already secured initial clearances to operate flights from Chandigarh to Dubai and Bangkok, the AAI was exploring flights for Sharjah, Egypt, Abu Dhabi, Doha, Tashkent, Muscat, Kuala Lumpur and Dushanbe among others. The AAI has pointed out 42 such destinations that could fetch a huge number of passengers from Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), Chandigarh and Uttarakhand as Chandigarh was a transit point for these states.

A full-fledged AAI team was working overnight to contact all prominent airlines to convince them about possible international destinations from the airport that has already been conferred with the status of customs for international operations. The ministry of defence has already given the green signal for night operations.

Chandigarh international airport chief executive officer Sunil Dutt said, "We have found several destinations in Middle East that have a potential of huge passengers from Chandigarh. These destinations are further connected to all top airports of the country. Our endeavour is to ensure passengers reach all popular destinations of the world after taking a flight from Chandigarh." He, however, confirmed that initially they would begin international operations with one flight.

Chandigarh has emerged as the gateway for air passengers coming here from across the world. International flights from Chandigarh airport would help not only people of Punjab but that of Himachal Pradesh (HP), Haryana, Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) and Chandigarh as it would be the nearest airport linking the region with other parts of the world.

Chandigarh airport is one of the fastest growing in the country in passenger movement, according to Airports Authority of India data. In 2006, there was movement of around 1.5 lakh domestic passengers. It has now reached to 10.6 lakh, almost seven times in five years.

Experts from industry believe international flights in Chandigarh would divert passengers from several other airports, especially, as there will be no bottleneck at Chandigarh like Delhi

It will be a big boost if cargo handling facilities were provided. This will help businessmen from Ludhiana and Baddi who depend on Delhi or Mumbai till now for export and import